Salty Honey Roasted Hazelnut Ice Cream

Hazelnuts are totally the shit and I'm somehow just realizing it (?!)

Hazelnuts that have been roasted in copious amount of butter + salt + honey are even more so the shit. I actually have to credit Matt for the whole salted-honey-roasted part of this. This past weekend (while we were making tons of food for Easter) he was roasting pecans for a salad while I was chopping hazelnuts for brownies that ended up being a flop. He was like "lol I'm going to roast the hazelnuts" and I was like "OK" and then he did but first he covered them in a generous amount of honey, butter, and sea salt and it actually made me go "mmmmMMMmm" like Paula Dean does every time she bites into something on camera. I know honey roasted nuts are not a ground breaking concept but I haven't ever made them myself and I've definitely never had honey roasted hazelnuts so let me just enjoy this moment of bliss, please.

I made the nuts into an ice cream because duh but I made the ice cream dairy-free because I'm on some joke of a health kick and using coconut milk made me feel better about myself. Also, though, coconut milk ice cream is insanely creamy and the coconuty flavor totally adds a whole other nutty element to the ice cream - making it even more "mmmmMMMmm" worthy.

The ice cream has a great balance of sweet and salty with a nice crunch from the roasted hazelnuts and a hint of caramel flavor. I just gave some to Matt for the first time while he was still in bed (it's been one of those weeks), and now I'm hearing exclamations of "oh my GOD oh my GODDDD this is so good omg why is it salty wait I love it ugh ok yes this needs to be on the blog!"

This is my life.

Enjoy, darlings!

Side Notes:

I did not make the waffle cones myself. With school being as crazy as it is right now, it's an Easter miracle that I managed to make anything at all this week! You can thank the nice staff at the Coldstone Creamery for the beautiful waffle cones - though, they did start singing when I gave them a tip which totally caught me off guard and honestly made me v uncomfortable.

I used a melon baller to make the ice cream scoops into perfect little spheres. I don't know, I was thinking it'd be cute and I'm happy with the results even if it is a bit unconventional.

All the gifs that Molly and Alana have been making have got me feeling inspired, more fun animations to come soon!

Salty Honey Roasted Hazelnut Ice Cream

What:

1.5 cups hazelnuts, roughly chopped

1/2 cup honey plus 3 T

2 T unsalted butter, melted

1 T fine sea salt

1 T vanilla

2 T potato or corn starch

2 (13.5ozish) cans of full fat coconut milk

*ice cream maker required*

How:

Make sure the freezer bowl of your ice cream maker has been frozen for at least 12 hours!

Preheat your oven to 400* F.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, toss the hazelnuts with the melted butter.

Evenly spread the hazelnuts across a baking sheets (use one with a raised edge so that the butter does not run off and set your oven on fire).

Drizzle/sprinkle the 3 T honey and 1 T salt evenly across the nuts.

Roast for 10 - 12 minutes until the nuts are aromatic and have browned slightly. Remove from the oven and set aside for later use.

Shake coconut milk cans to prevent separation.

Pour 1/2 cup of the coconut milk into a small bowl and set aside.

In a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat, whisk together the honey and coconut milk (less the 1/2 cup you've set aside) until the honey has dissolved - about two minutes.

Add the potato starch to the 1/2 cup of coconut milk you had set aside, and whisk until combined. Pour into the saucepan with the rest of the coconut milk and whisk to combine.

Over medium heat, cook the mixture until thickened (about 6 minutes). Stir often during this process, making sure the mixture doesn't ever come to a boil.

Once it is thick enough to coat the back of your spoon, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.

Let sit in a medium bowl until cooled to room temperature.

Once cooled, cover and place in the fridge to chill for four hours to overnight.

Once chilled, follow the instructions on your ice cream maker.

You'll want to add the hazelnuts towards the end of the churning process, just so that they are evenly folded into the finished ice cream.

It should be the consistency of soft-serve once its done in the ice cream maker. Freeze it for a few hours to make it a bit harder, if desired.